# Judith Godrèche

**Judith Godrèche** (born 1972 in Paris) is a French actress, screenwriter, director, and author who began as a child performer in auteur cinema, became one of the leading figures of France's #[MeToo movement](https://www.edgepedia.org/metoo-movement), and turned to filmmaking with the series *Icon of French Cinema* (2023), the short film *Moi aussi* (2024), and the feature *Mémoire de fille* (2026).<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972, Paris, France<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup> |
| Screen debut | As a child in Nadine Trintignant's *L'Été prochain*; first lead at 14 in Benoît Jacquot's *Les Mendiants*<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)</sup> |
| Breakout | *La Désenchantée* (1990), César nomination for Most Promising Actress<sup>[4](https://en.unifrance.org/directories/person/18826/judith-godreche)</sup> |
| International visibility | *Ridicule* (1996, In Competition at Cannes), *The Man in the Iron Mask* (1998) with Leonardo DiCaprio, *L'Auberge Espagnole* (2002)<sup>[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/judith-godreche/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup> |
| Directing | *Toutes les filles pleurent* (first feature), *Icon of French Cinema* (Arte, 2023), *Moi aussi* (2024), *Mémoire de fille* (2026)<sup>[6](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/162/65/278946/presse/moi-aussi-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_girls_story)</sup> |
| #MeToo role | 2017 account of Harvey Weinstein at Cannes 1996; February 2024 complaints against Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, both of whom deny the allegations<sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup> |

## Early career

Godrèche is the daughter of a psychomotrician and a psychoanalyst. She appeared on stage for schoolmates at age 8 and made her first screen appearance at about 10 in Nadine Trintignant's *L'Été prochain*, playing [Claudia Cardinale](https://www.edgepedia.org/claudia-cardinale)'s daughter.<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)</sup> At 14 she left school to play her first screen lead in Benoît Jacquot's *Les Mendiants*, and the following year left home for good to pursue film and theater.<sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)</sup> She met Jacquot when she was 14 and he was 39, and lived with him for six years.<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup>

Jacques Doillon gave her the lead in *La Fille de quinze ans* (1989), and she reteamed with Jacquot to co-write and star in *La Désenchantée* (1990), playing a teenager changed by encounters with a series of men; the role brought a César nomination for Most Promising Actress.<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://en.unifrance.org/directories/person/18826/judith-godreche)</sup> [Olivier Assayas](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivier-assayas) cast her in *Paris s'éveille* (1991) and *Une nouvelle vie* (1993).<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup>

## Popular and international work

**1996 was a turning point.** Patrice Leconte's *Ridicule*, in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at Cannes, made her known to American audiences as Mathilde de Bellegarde, and she played Marie-Antoinette in *Beaumarchais, l'insolent* the same year.<sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/judith-godreche/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup> She then took Hollywood roles, opposite [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio) in *The Man in the Iron Mask* (1998), and later appeared in Cédric Klapisch's *L'Auberge Espagnole* (2002), [François Ozon](https://www.edgepedia.org/francois-ozon)'s *Potiche* (2010), and Park Chan-wook's *Stoker* (2013).<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup>

After moving to the United States, where her children grew up, she appeared in American independent comedies including *[The Overnight](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-overnight)* (2015), *Under the Eiffel Tower* (2018), and *The Climb* (2019, Un Certain Regard at Cannes), and in the series *Medical Police* (2020).<sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/judith-godreche/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://time.com/3924263/the-overnight-judith-godreche/)</sup> Her performance in *The Overnight* drew critical praise.<sup>[9](https://www.cinecomedies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/dossier_presse-The_Climb.pdf)</sup>

## Move behind the camera

Godrèche wrote and directed her first feature, *Toutes les filles pleurent*, in 2010.<sup>[6](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/162/65/278946/presse/moi-aussi-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf)</sup> In 2023 she created, wrote, and directed the six-episode Arte series *Icon of French Cinema*, an autofiction (fiction blending the author's own life story) in which she staged her fictional double alongside her daughter Tess Barthélémy, mixing humor with a depiction of the film industry's darker realities.<sup>[6](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/162/65/278946/presse/moi-aussi-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)</sup> She has said that the birth of her daughter, whom she directed in the series, made her recognize how abnormal her adolescent relationship with Jacquot had been.<sup>[10](https://www.lemonde.fr/series/article/2024/01/02/quatre-series-a-voir-icon-of-french-cinema-without-sin-dark-winds-et-escort-boys_6208672_5439376.html)</sup>

Her short film *Moi aussi* (Me Too), screened in Special Screenings at Cannes in 2024, presents a collective portrait of victims of sexual violence, built around the question of how to film a crowd, and closes with statistics on rape and incest.<sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[11](https://www.politis.fr/articles/2024/05/judith-godreche-violences-sexistes-et-sexuelles-je-sais-que-ma-verite-est-imparable/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/05/16/festival-de-cannes-dans-moi-aussi-judith-godreche-devoile-mille-visages-de-victimes-de-violences-sexuelles_6233581_3246.html)</sup>

**Mémoire de fille** (2026), her first feature as director since 2010, adapts [Annie Ernaux](https://www.edgepedia.org/annie-ernaux)'s autobiographical novel *Mémoire de fille* (2016), about the summer of 1958 in which the future Nobel laureate, then 17, experienced a first sexual encounter marked by violence and shame. Presented in Un Certain Regard at the 79th Cannes Film Festival with a running time of 1h57, it stars Tess Barthélémy as the young Annie, with Valérie Dréville as the older writer, and was released in French theaters on 30 September 2026.<sup>[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_girls_story)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[13](https://cineuropa.org/fr/newsdetail/491535/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[14](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D1000204974.html)</sup> Godrèche does not act in the film; she has described the challenge of adapting a book with no dialogue and barely sketched characters.<sup>[14](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D1000204974.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[15](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-21/judith-godreche-la-actriz-que-encendio-el-me-too-frances-no-he-vuelto-a-recibir-una-sola-propuesta-de-trabajo.html)</sup>

## #MeToo and public testimony

Godrèche was one of the first prominent actors to go on the record against [Harvey Weinstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/harvey-weinstein): in 2017 she told *The New York Times* that Weinstein, who had just acquired *Ridicule*, forced himself on her in his Hotel du Cap suite when she was 24 at the 1996 Cannes festival, and that she fled.<sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup>

In February 2024, weeks after *Icon of French Cinema* aired, she filed official complaints against Benoît Jacquot for "rape with constraint" and against Jacques Doillon for "rape with violence" during the making of *La Fille de quinze ans* (1989); both men denied the allegations.<sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup> On 23 February 2024 she used a live broadcast of the [César Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/cesar-awards) ceremony to call on the French film industry to "face the truth" about sexual violence.<sup>[16](https://apnews.com/article/e215e51b38c9500c9ac032be99d4e0f0)</sup> On 29 February she denounced sexual violence before the French Senate and called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into sexual violence in cinema.<sup>[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/02/29/judith-godreche-denounces-sexual-violence-in-french-senat-hearing_6572029_7.html)</sup> French Culture Minister Rachida Dati criticized the country's cinema for "collectively turning a blind eye for decades."<sup>[2](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)</sup>

The aftermath has been contested. According to a 2026 *El País* interview, Godrèche is herself under indictment for defamation while Jacquot and Doillon have not been judged in her case; Jacquot was separately indicted for the rape of two actresses, one of them a minor. She also said that since speaking out she has received no acting work offers at all.<sup>[15](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-21/judith-godreche-la-actriz-que-encendio-el-me-too-frances-no-he-vuelto-a-recibir-una-sola-propuesta-de-trabajo.html)</sup>

## References

1. [Judith Godrèche : Sa biographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-11400/biographie/)
2. [#MeToo struggled to find traction in France. Then Judith Godrèche came forward, AP News (May 2024)](https://apnews.com/article/8015d6dc14efd6c00912f8dd824f9985)
3. [Judith Godrèche, Rotten Tomatoes celebrity page](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/judith_godreche)
4. [Judith Godrèche, Unifrance directory](https://en.unifrance.org/directories/person/18826/judith-godreche)
5. [Judith Godrèche, Festival de Cannes profile](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/judith-godreche/)
6. [Moi aussi press kit (English), Unifrance](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/162/65/278946/presse/moi-aussi-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf)
7. [A Girl's Story, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_girls_story)
8. [Meet Judith Godrèche, the Surprise Comic Standout From The Overnight, TIME (2015)](https://time.com/3924263/the-overnight-judith-godreche/)
9. [Judith Godrèche press kit, The Climb](https://www.cinecomedies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/dossier_presse-The_Climb.pdf)
10. [Quatre séries à voir : « Icon of French Cinema »…, Le Monde (January 2024)](https://www.lemonde.fr/series/article/2024/01/02/quatre-series-a-voir-icon-of-french-cinema-without-sin-dark-winds-et-escort-boys_6208672_5439376.html)
11. [Entretien avec Judith Godrèche, Politis (May 2024)](https://www.politis.fr/articles/2024/05/judith-godreche-violences-sexistes-et-sexuelles-je-sais-que-ma-verite-est-imparable/)
12. [Dans « Moi aussi », Judith Godrèche dévoile mille visages de victimes de violences sexuelles, Le Monde (May 2024)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/05/16/festival-de-cannes-dans-moi-aussi-judith-godreche-devoile-mille-visages-de-victimes-de-violences-sexuelles_6233581_3246.html)
13. [Critique : Mémoire de fille, Cineuropa (May 2026)](https://cineuropa.org/fr/newsdetail/491535/)
14. [« Faire un film qui s'adresse à cette jeunesse » : rencontre avec Judith Godrèche, AlloCiné (October 2026)](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D1000204974.html)
15. [Judith Godrèche, la actriz que encendió el Me Too francés, El País (May 2026)](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-21/judith-godreche-la-actriz-que-encendio-el-me-too-frances-no-he-vuelto-a-recibir-una-sola-propuesta-de-trabajo.html)
16. [Actor calls on French film industry to face sexual abuse, during live Cesar Awards ceremony, AP News (February 2024)](https://apnews.com/article/e215e51b38c9500c9ac032be99d4e0f0)
17. [Judith Godrèche denounces sexual violence in French Senate hearing, Le Monde (February 2024)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/02/29/judith-godreche-denounces-sexual-violence-in-french-senat-hearing_6572029_7.html)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › French actors › Surnames E to M*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license